No budget cuts this year; but next?

Tuesday

Mar 19, 2013 at 8:08 PMMar 19, 2013 at 8:10 PM

"It's not looking too promising down in Springfield right now."

Mike Berry

The Kewanee School Board won’t have to cut the school district’s budget this year to cope with state funding cuts.But Supt. Dr. Chris Sullens told the board Monday that cuts will probably have to be made next year if something doesn’t change drastically in Springfield.Commenting on Gov. Pat Quinn’s fiscal 2014 budget proposal, Sullens said Kewanee is in about the same situation as other area school districts.“It’s not looking too promising down in Springfield right now,” he said. “We’re going to take the position that just about every school district in this area that I’m aware of is going to do, which is kind of to hold on and see what’s going to happen for a year before we start looking at making some possible cuts.”Sullens said next year’s budget will look different than this year’s. In this fiscal year the district lost $1 million in general state aid; the loss could be another $2 million next year, he said.Sullens said Illinois’ legislature may do the same thing as was done recently in Iowa. There, a few years ago, school districts had budget surpluses and the state didn’t, so the state cut back on funding and the local districts spent down their surpluses.School board President Dan Nolan said state aid cuts hurt downstate districts like Kewanee more than they hurt suburban districts, which derive most of their funding from property taxes and get only token state aid payments.“It’s just a killer for us, because we rely so much on general state aid,” Sullens said of the state aid reductions.While staff layoffs might be considered if the current trends continue, Sullens said layoffs might not really save the district so much. That’s because the district is self-insured for unemployment insurance, and would have to pay benefits to some laid-off employees.Also Monday, the board approved the calendar for the 2013-14 school year which includes a departure from past practice.The district’s spring break has traditionally been the week before or after Easter. But next year Easter is very late — April 20 — which would put the break right in the middle of high school achievement testing.So the calendar sets the spring break for the last week of March. School starts Aug. 19, after three days of teacher institutes.

In other action:

The board passed resolutions honoring Kewanee High School students who achieved state recognition in Illinois High School Association activities.Honored were Emily Grebner, Ellen Johnson, Johnny Williams and Zach Murphy of the speech team and wrestlers Bo Walters, Omar Delgado and Mark Breedlove.“You guys have really set the bar high” for students who will take part in these activities in coming years, Sullens said.

Sullens announced that the annual Kewanee Schools Foundation fund-raising auction will be held Saturday at KHS. Doors open at 3:30 p.m.

The board looked over an information sheet that has been prepared for voters about the proposed Henry County schools facility sales tax. The tax would add one cent to the current sales tax, with the proceeds going for facility construction and bond payments.